Seed and grain cleaning machine.



E. C. STARNES & E. C. WILLIS.

SEED AND GRAIN CLEANlNG MACHINE.

APPLHCATXON men DEC. 16. 19:3.

1,1?6fi69. Patented Mar. 28,1916.

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Snow vim; E. Zarrzea and THE COLUMBIA PMNOGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, n. c.

E. C. STARNES '& E C. WILLIS SEED AND GRAIN CLEANING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.16, 1913.

Patented Mar. 28, 1916.

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THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 130., WASHINGTON, D. c.

'r or SEED ANI) GRAIN CLEANING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, EARL C. STARNES and EDWARD 'C. WVILLIs, citizens of the United States, residing at Alpha, in the county of Jackson and State of Minnesota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Seed and Grain Cleaning Machines, of which the following is a specification.

-A11 object of the invention is to provide a machine for use in connection with grain elevators or mills for the purpose of cleaning'the grain and removing therefrom any dust or chaff.

The invention contemplates, among other features, the provision of a machine having a gravity grain feed and whereby the grain is divided into separate streams as 1t passes toward the distributing spout and which streams are subjected to the action of a blower fan in order to remove from the grainorseed any foreign matter, such as dust or chaff, the mentioned dust or chaff 7 being adapted to be carried through a separate flue or passage and discharged into a suitable dust collecting receptacle.

In the further disclosure of the invention reference is to be had to the accompanylng drawings, constituting a part of th1s specification, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken through ourmachine, showlng the same 1n relation to a grain elevator; Fig. 2 1s a fragmentary side elevation of the blower fan casing, showing the manner of admlttmg air thereto; Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional View taken on the line 3-3 1n Flg.

'1; Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on the line 44 in Fig. l; and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the 1nc11ned grain dividing plate.

Referring more particularly to the views, we disclose a housing 10 contamlng a sultable grain elevator 11 of any deslred construction, and which is adapted to convey grain from a lower or workmg floor, not shown, into a hopper 12, the bottom of which is'formed with an inclined gram d1- viding plate 13 provided at its lower front edge with a series of relatively spaced d1- viding members 14 in the nature of vertlcal plates and which, when the grain gravltates downthe plate 13, are adapted to divide the grain into separate streams. An upwardly and forwardly inclined flue 15 is adapted to Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 16, 1913. Serial No.

and provided with Patented Mar. 28, 1916. 807,107.

be connected by suitablepiping with a dust collecting chamber, not shown, and the lower end of the. plate 13 projects into the flue 15 at its inner end so that when the grain passes down the plate 13 it will be distributed into the inner end of the flue 15 in separate and distinct streams.

A casing 16 is supported on the housing 10 in any convenient manner and has an opening 17 communicating with the flue 15. at its inner end, the said flue being adapted to extend downwardly within the casing and terminate in a distributing spout 18. Journaled to rotate within the casing 16 is a blower fan 19 and formed in a side wall 20 of. the casing is to the blower fan 19, the shaft 22 carrying the blower fan 19 and which is journaled to the casing, being adapted to have one end thereof extending exteriorly of the casing a suitable pulley 23 over which is adapted to operate a belt 24 having connection with a suitable driving mechanism, not shown, for imparting rotation to the fan.

Vertical guideways 25 are formed on the wall 20 of the casing 16 and on both sides of the intake opening 21 and a closure 26 for the intake opening 21 is mounted to slide on the guideways 25, the said closure 26 having connected thereto a suitable cable 27 and which extends to the lower working floor whereby the closure can be raised or lowered in order to open or close the intake opening 21, thus controlling the supply of air to the blower fan. In order to permit of easily operating the closure 26, the upper ends of a plurality of expansible helical springs 28 are preferably seated within the closure and have their other ends secured to the exterior of the wall 20 of the casing 16, the said springs being adapted to normally hold the closure in position to close the intake opening 21 and whereby when a pull is exerted on the cable 27 the closure will be operated against the action of the spring and thus can be readily raised or lowered the desired distance in order to accurately control the desired amount of air to the blower fan.

In the use of the device described, the grain is received in the inner end of the flue 15 in distinct and separate streams, as mentioned heretofore, and the grain is formed into these streams by the dividing member 14 carried by the plate 13. Now it an intake opening 21, I through which air is adapted to be supplied 2 r V 7 1,176,869 a will be readily apparent that by having the H grainseparated 1nt0 streams as ment oned,

when air is admitted into the casing containing the blower fan and the blower fan is operated, the currents of air will be driven into the flue 15 and, passing through the separate and distinct streams of grain, will remove therefrom all light and foreign matters such as dust and chaff and which foreign matters will be carried upwardly with the current of air, through the fiue 15 and then distributed into the dust collecting chamber or receptacle mentioned heretofore, while the grain, after being cleaned as men} tioned, will pass downwardly into the distributing spout. 18 and from which it can be piped or suitably carriedto various receptacles which are adapted to receive the "ing with the flue 15, and through which the air is driven into the flue in order that it will properly act upon thegrain passing in front of the opening.

Having thus described our invention, we claim: a f a V a In a device of the class described, "a casing, a blower in the casing for forcing the air through openings in the opposite ends of the casing, vertical guide-ways formed on opposite sides of said casing, a closure, and a plurality of expansible' helical springs seated within the closure and having their opposite ends securedito'the exterior of the walls ofthe casing, said closure being i mounted inthe vertical guide-ways, and

means for operating the closureagainst the action of its springs for efiecting theraising or lowering-thereof to accurately control the desired amount of air into the blower fan.

In testimony whereof we affix ourxsignatures in presence of two witnesses. 1

' EARL csrAnNEs, n EDWARD'Q. WILLIS Witnesses: Y

V A..B. GEORGE,

W. S. Anm rnn.

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I i Washington, D. C. v i V i a 

